Take 2022 alone, with top titles like The Spectacular, Het Year of Fortuyn, disaster flight and Sihame. The golden hour like a kind of elongated Jason Bourne film, it fits perfectly into that trend.
‘Warning: this series contains shocking images.’ Such a disclaimer is by no means unique, but we don’t see it very often in Dutch series. The approach of the six-part thriller series The golden hour is therefore quite intense. The title refers to a term in the protocols that come into effect during a ‘national calamity’, such as a terrorist attack. The hour after such an attack is crucial, because then the panic is enormous, and the chance of a second attack is greatest.
Director Bobby Boermans and writer and detective Simon de Waal have clearly done their homework, because all parties involved in such an attack (from the control room to perpetrators and victims) are The golden hour their share of attention.
That attack, which takes place in the second episode, is cinematically cleverly portrayed and cuts to the bone, especially because the images of attacks in France and Spain are still fairly fresh on the retina. It’s commendable that Boermans doesn’t romanticize the violence with flaming action, but it’s also quite a bit of atrocities for a brackish Sunday binge session. Let’s just say the disclaimer up front isn’t exactly patronizing.
The attack is ‘just’ a scene in an exciting thriller series, which mainly revolves around detective Mardik (Nasrdin Dchar in usual top form), who, because of his Afghan roots, is being investigated by a suspicious AIVD agent (the always interesting Ellen Parren). That premise leads to some sweat drops at first, as similar spy thrillers like homeland in the past were not always subtle with their portrayal of characters with an Islamic background. Although Mardik quickly develops into a prime suspect (a childhood friend from Afghanistan turns out to be involved in the attack), he is above all a typical antihero that the viewer can relate to.
What The golden hour especially shows is that things are actually going pretty damn well with the Dutch series. Take 2022 alone, when one ambitious series after another was fired at us, with top titles like The Spectacular, The Year of Fortuyn, disaster flight and Sihame. Now I also know that there is nothing better than moaning about homegrown productions, but even the biggest cynic has to admit that things are definitely moving forward. Especially at the NPO offices it seems to become clear that investing in strong drama (and especially: strong scripts) works best in the cutthroat competition with the streaming services.
The golden hour like a kind of elongated Jason Bourne film, it fits perfectly into that trend. The series strikes a balance between action, shock and a strong plot structure. And most importantly, the viewer is also challenged a bit. And that we can finally really say that about homegrown series is the biggest gain.